Grandfather's Scars
by HermioneWeasley93
Summary: Hermione goes home to visit her family after the war and discovers her grandfather has scars too.


Hermione Granger no longer hid the scars she'd gained in the war. Everyone knew how she'd gotten them. Everyone knew who she was. Hermione Granger, one of the many heroes of the war even if on most days she didn't feel like a hero. She wasn't as recognizable as Harry or Ron , but people still recognized her. She'd even gotten used to the stares that she got when she walked down the streets of wizarding Britain. There was no reason to hide the scars anyway. Since the war plenty of people had scars. The only place she hid her scars were when she went to the muggle world since they tended to freak people out. Of course she didn't go to the muggle world much. She wasn't sure why, some ancient psychological tendency that made her feel the need to be among her own "kind" perhaps. Purebloods might not have liked it, but the wizarding world was her home. It was where her lover was, her friends.

But most of her family was scattered in muggle Britain. She had tried tracing her wizarding heritage once and come to the uncomfortable conclusion that her great-grandmother had had an affair with her gardener, one Draconius Malfoy.

At that point she'd decided geneaology wasn't particularly interesting.

Today she had decided to meet with her family as she had been doing weekly since recovering from her "lost year" as she thought of the year after Hogwarts that'd been lost to alcohol. She'd recovered from that though. She was coming up on her second year of sobriety.

She walked up the tree lined path that led to her childhood home and knocked on the door.

"Hello, Hermione." Her mother greeted, pulling her into a hug.

"Hermione! How's my little girl been?" Her dad asked, also hugging her. Hermione hugged them both.

"I'm doing great. Me and Ron are still together and I've got a job."  
"A job?" Her dad asked. "Doing what?"  
He did his best to hide the dissapontment. He'd always hoped Hermione would follow in his footsteps as a dentist.

"Well, it's a Ministry position. I'm their new intern. Right now I'm basically fetching everybody tea, but one day..." She smiled, ambitious fantasies playing in her head.

"That's my girl." Mr. Granger said as he patted her back. The pride in his voice was real. He always knew his daughter was destined for great things, he just never imagined the daughter of a dentist of all things would grow up to be a champion that helped defeat an ancient evil in a land of magic.

It was like some sort of young adult fantasy novel, honestly.

"Ay, well ain't mi graddaughter growin' up." A cracked voice said and Hermione's grandfather shuffled up to the door.

"Grandpa! It's been forever!" Hermione exclaimed hugging him.

Randolph Granger hugged his favorite grandchild to his chest. "Where'd you get those scars, child?" He asked, running his fingers down her neck.

"During the war." Hermione answered. She had forgotten to cast the glamour she ordinarily used when going to the muggle world. Her grandfather knew some vague details about Hermione's life in the wizarding world, but not much.

"Aye, ye don't say." He murmured. "Wizards still fight hand to hand?"  
"It wasn't during a battle." Hermone nearly choked out. "I...I was captured."  
Her grandfather nodded. "I'm glad ye got out alive."  
"So am I."

"Do they ever give ye any trouble?" Her grandfather asked. Hermione saw the pity in his eyes. She bit her tongue before she could blurt out "don't pity me!"

"No, not really." She calmly answered.

"Mine do sometimes. On cold and rainy days. That's why I moved from Scotland."  
She cocked her head. "I didn't know you had scars, Grandpa."

"Oh sure I do." He lifted his shirt. Hermione gasped at the patchwork of purple scar tisuue criss-crossing her grandfather's stomach.

"How...?" Hermione asked, horrified.

"Got'em during the war from a damned nazi."  
"I...I didn't know that." Hermione said.

"So, how'd ye get yours? Sit down child, yer in yer very own home."

Hermione and Randolph sat down beside each other on the couch.

"Me, Harry and Ron were on the run from the Death Eaters-the followers of that wizard trying to conquer Britain-when we were captured. I was chosen to be tortured."  
Randolph grimaced, but allowed her to continue.

"Bellatrix-the woman that tortured me-wanted to know how we'd gotten the sword of Gryffindor. It could destroy horcruxes, you see."  
"It could destroy what?"

"Horcruxes. Voldemort had stored his soul in seven objects called horcruxes that the sword could destoy. So, I lied. I passed the sword off as a fake."  
"Smart girl. And she believed it?" Randolph asked in a voice that questioned Bellatrix's intelleigence.

"She did once we got a goblin-it was a goblin made sword-to lie and tell her it was a fake. Bellatrix would have killed me had Dobby not dropped a chandelier on her. Then Ron pulled me from the rubble..." She couldn't but smile at the memory. The gentle way he'd held her, as if to shield her from all the evils of the world. "That's when I knew I loved him. Well, we got out of there then."  
Randolph nodded. "Now _that_'_s _a war story. Did ye finish the old bitch off?"

"No, someone else did."  
"Well at least ye didn't break and babble everything to the enemy. That took guts. A real hero."  
"Thanks, Grandpa. I don't feel like a hero though."  
"Course not. No one ever does. It's always just you doin' yer duty. When I got back I didn't feel like a hero myself. I more or less felt like crawlin' under a hole. My best friends were all dead thanks to the Nazi bastards."  
"Oh, Grandpa, I'm so sorry."  
Randolph shrugged. "It was a long time ago. I made new friends. So, ye wanna hear how I got my scars?"  
"Sure."

"It was during the winter of '45, ye've heard of the Battle of the Bulge I'm sure? More like the Battle of Hell. Bullet's flyin' everywhere, my limbs about ta freeze off. I ran out of bullets. Well, a Nazi I was shootin' at ran out of bullets too. Guess he took all the shootin' personally cause he took out his knife, knocked me down and started slicin' away at my stomach. I stabbed him in the eye. That put an end to it."

"What did it feel like? To kill him?" Hermione asked, not quite sure why she asked the question.

Randolph shrugged. "Nothing. After that the adrenaline was spent and I was exhausted. I collapsed. Nearly died from blood loss. Ye ever killed someone?"  
"Sort of." Hermione said. "During the war me, Harry and Ron went on a search for the horcruxes in order to make Voldemort mortal again. As long as the horcruxes existed he couldn't be killed. We figured out two of them were at the school, Hogwarts. Ron and me went into what was called the Chamber of Secrets where a basilisk, that is a giant snake thing, used to live. We had lost the sword, but we knew the basilisk fangs should be able to destroy the horcruxes. It was Ron's idea. I drove the fang into the horcrux, destroying it. With it I destroyed part of Voldemort's soul. I guess I did help to kill him."  
"How'd ye feel about it?"  
"Exhilerated, but it's not nice to admit that is it? I enjoyed the feeling of it, the power."

"It's normal ta feel that. Reminds me of this time we ambushed this Nazi supply line..."

Till nearly sunset they traded war stories, a bond being sparked, forged from blood and scars and the pain only veterans know.

"Alright you two, it's almost time for supper." Hermione's mother told them.

"Oh, I had no idea it was that late!" Hermione said. "Anyway, that's how we met Sirius Black."

Rudolph nodded as they walked into the kitchen. "An interesting character it sounds like."

"Yeah, he sure was." Hermione agreed. "Mmmm, Mum this smells delicious!" She said as she dug into the spotted dick.

"Aye, you always were a good cook. I think that's why Rob married ye!"  
Mr. Granger just laughed at this. "That had something to do with it."

Mrs. Granger playfully punched his shoulder and sat down.

"I'm glad you like the meal Hermione. So, next time you need to bring that boy over."  
"Ron, Mum, his name is Ron."

"Right. You ought to bring Ron over. How long have you two been together anyway?"

"Almost two years."  
"So, has he proposed yet?"  
Hermione's face grew as red as her boyfriend's hair. "_Mum_." She whined.

Mrs. Granger giggled.

The conversation moved on to other topics and soon it was getting dark. Hermione yawned.

"I should be getting back home." Hermione said. She hugged her mum and dad who hugged her back.

"Goodnight, dear."

"Goodnight, Grandpa."  
"Goodnight, Hermione." He hugged her.

"Say, Grandpa...I know I haven't visited you in a while, but are you free tomorrow?"  
"One good thing about bein' this age is that yer always free. Ye can visit me anytime."

Hermione smiled. "I'll see you then."  
"Aye. Ye'll have to tell me all about that wizard boyfriend of yours."  
"I will, Grandpa." Hermione said. She hugged him and left, looking forward to the next day.


End file.
